CORTEZ, Colo.—Police say an intoxicated man used a backhoe to flip a car over and smash into a motel in southwest Colorado.

Witnesses say bystanders pulled the man from the machine. He complained of sore ribs but no other injuries were reported.

The incident occurred Saturday in Cortez.

Police spokeswoman Angelia Herrmann says the suspect had been doing work for the motel owners in exchange for a room, but the owners had just ended the arrangement. It’s not clear who owned the backhoe.

Herrmann says a room housing the motel laundry and boiler was destroyed.

Forty-four-year-old Freddy Jaramillo of Cortez was being held on suspicion of driving under the influence, criminal mischief and menacing.

An employee of the Limon Correctional Facility was assaulted this morning by an inmate and is being treated for injuries, said Katherine Sanguinetti, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.

The assault occurred about 10:25 a.m.

Police in Limon said an ambulance was sent to the prison, which is about six miles southwest of downtown Limon.

Sanguinetti said that the male correctional officer is conscious and in stable condition at a local hospital.

Details of the assault are not being released at this time, said Sanguinetti.

FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Someone scratched obscenities into the paint on two Fort Collins police patrol cars and smashed windows on one of them.

Police said Saturday the vandal or vandals didn’t get into the cars or take anything.

The first incident occurred Feb. 12 in the vicinity of Timberline and Trilby roads; the second occurred Feb. 18 near Harmony and Ziegler roads. Police say the cars were parked overnight when the attacks happened.

A search is on for a man who apparently ran over a Denver sheriff’s deputy about 7:30 a.m. today after deputies went to the 1200 block of South Knox Court to arrest him.

Officials say Brendan Cook jumped out a window when deputies arrived. He got in his car and rammed one deputy, Don Travis, a 14-year veteran. His partner, Eric Gibens, a 16-year veteran, fired what is believed to be a single shot at the fleeing car.

The shot hit a driver-side window of the silver BMW, which sped off.

Travis was taken to a hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening.

About 9 a.m. officials found a parked car matching the description of the one that hit the deputy a few blocks away near Garfield Lake Park. They cordoned off the car with crime scene tape.